NoWaYu Game Night - C-Shadow and the Zeds
by CountNibosshi
Summary: The NoWaYu's get to know each other by enjoying Chikage's hobbies together.
1. Chapter 1 – Let's all play a game with C

C-shadow, a legendary name that circled throughout the videogaming world, topping scoreboards everywhere and anywhere, it is a name associated with legendary skill in any genre.

Koori Chikage, a shy, introverted girl whose history has her preferring live within her own bubble and avoid interaction with people.

Takashima Yuuna, the exception to Chikage's attitude, a cheerful, ever positive girl able to get Chikage out of her shell and let her enjoy herself.

 **Chapter 1 – Let's all play a game with Chikage!**

Chikage couldn't remember when she'd picked up video games, as far back as she could remember she'd always been playing something, whether at home or when going out, she would always find herself drawn to video games. She had never told anyone about her hobbies or her interests before, and it had been Yuuna, ever perceptive of others, who had commented on how Chikage always seemed to be playing something. Chikage had never quite thought of it as a hobby however, more of an escape from her reality.

Years of playing just about anything had bestowed Chikage with great skill in most genres. Racing, fighting, shooting, she had mastered them all. One thing that she'd never quite been able to experience, however, was playing with others.

One day, whilst the heroes were sat around in the Marugame canteen eating udon, Wakaba had put forth a suggestion, in an attempt to increase cooperation between the heroes, she suggested that they experienced everyone's hobbies with each other.

"Let's all do our favourite activities together as a group, that way we can get to know each other better"

She turned to Chikage first, surprising her, Chikage didn't think Wakaba particularly liked her, they would sometimes argue between themselves over how the heroes were supposed to conduct themselves.

"What would you like to do, Chikage?" Wakaba asked, full of curiosity.

Chikage didn't have any hobbies, all she did was play videogames all day, and no one would want to just do that, it was too plain, too boring.

"It doesn't really matter..." Chikage had said, content to let them pass over her. Yuuna had other plans, however, interjecting with:

"Aww, I wanted to play games with Gun-chan" She'd said dejectedly

Chikage had one huge weakness, and that was Yuuna

"Well…If Takashima-san wants to… then I suppose… It might be alright…" Chikage slowly strung the sentence together, a small smile on her face.

"It's settled then. Let's play a game with Chikage, what do you want to play Chikage?" Wakaba inquired

"What about a video game…?" Tama chipped in slyly "Tama likes video games!"

Then under her breath "and Tama can't win at card games"

Ignoring Tama's last comment, Wakaba spoke up again, a nervous edge to her voice, she seemed uneasy about the suggestion "C-computers, huh? Well, it's Chikage's call after all."

"Yeah… Let's play a video game." Chikage had agreed, a part of her wanted to introduce Yuuna to what Chikage had spent so much of her life doing, that, and another small voice in her head that was all up for a chance to prove her superiority over Wakaba at something.

"R-right, it's settled then, we're going to play a computer game together…" Wakaba sat down, visibly pale.

"FuFuFu, and take many pictures of Wakaba-chan on the computer as well!" Hinata had chimed in for the first time in the conversation.

"Tama will win!" Tama boasted, a claim that largely dispersed into the air, believed by no one.

"I can't wait to play with Gun-chan!" Yuuna had closed the conversation with her enthusiasm for the upcoming event. Which had already, as far as Chikage was concerned, made the whole thing worth it.

Following much deliberation and thought, Chikage decided that the game they would play on that day would be Killing Floor, a game all about working as a team to kill waves of zombies. Chikage didn't quite understand why she had chosen this game, was it because she was good at it? But she was good at every game. Maybe because it wasn't too difficult, and if push came to shove, she would get to stand in front of Yuuna and protect her? Chikage smiled wryly at the irony of the Heroes playing something so similar to their everyday situation.

Wakaba had asked the Taisha to bring 6 PC's up to the classroom, and Chikage had then sat very patiently as Wakaba proved that perhaps she wasn't as good at everything as she first appeared, needing five attempts to navigate her way around the PC to create her profile. Chikage had again persevered through Tama moving around hyperactively and NOT sitting down. This behaviour left Chikage quite exhausted, and they hadn't even begun…

The second issue to plague Chikage was the username issue! Wakaba, ever straightforward had simply called herself Nogi Wakaba…

Another incident had then arisen, revealing herself as the legendary C-Shadow, Chikage had received mixed responses to her name. Not least from Tama, who in a stroke of her own brand of genius, had said "Ohoho...? C-shadow? Then I'll be T-Light!". Anzu had sighed audibly, and Chikage felt a twinge of annoyance that Tama would mock the name like that, Tama just couldn't understand just how cool the name was. At least Yuuna understood, bringing Chikage back to her senses by suggesting she called herself Y-Shadow so they matched. Ah, but of course, that's why Chikage was doing this, to have fun with Yuuna, not to listen to Tama's childish remarks or get annoyed by Wakaba's incompetence. Chikage again turned her attention back to Wakaba, who was now recoiling from her mouse as if it was trying to attack her, somehow, she got it wrapped around her arm as well. Right now the situation seemed grave. The flailing Wakaba had Chikage lightly massaging her temples, trying to contain her disbelief as well as ward off the potential headache that would no doubt soon be making its way through her head. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea, but it was too late to stop now, time to start the game…


	2. Chapter 2 – Headless Chickens

**Chapter 2 – Headless Chickens**

Wait, maybe it wasn't quite time to let go of her worries yet. She still had to get everyone together on the same server first, she'd set up one herself, but that certainly wasn't going to make anything easier. Anzu got on quickly enough, she was smart, and Yuuna got on okay too, she always tried her hardest at anything, Chikage would have been more than happy to help her anyway. But the others… Chikage took a quick a headcount:

Wakaba was looking incredibly flustered, trying to figure out Chikage's instructions, Chikage had told her to open the menu using shift and tab. Sat in a state of panic, and mouthing "shift and tab!?" over and over again with a confused look on her face, two buttons at once was proving beyond Wakaba.

Hinata was carefully scrutinising the activities of the panicking Wakaba, occasionally snapping a picture when she had a good angle.

Tama browsing for fishing lures… She didn't even fish…

Chikage found herself in a state of complete bewilderment that they were somehow supposed to protect Shikoku from the Vertex. The state they were in right now did not fill her with confidence. It looked like it was up to Chikage to do something to fix it.

30 minutes later…

Following some serious effort, Chikage had managed to get Tama to sit still, close the completely unrelated fishing website, and be ready to go. She'd physically pressed two keys at the same time for Wakaba, and she'd managed to get Hinata to put her camera away. She'd done all of this with a sense of tired patience. There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and that was playing with Yuuna. It had been serious work, but now they were finally ready to play, Chikage realised she still hadn't explained the premise of the game, but that could wait, she wasn't going to waste any more time, and throwing them in the deep end was fair payment for the trouble they'd caused her. If it turned out to be her protecting Yuuna and neglecting everyone else, that was fine, she didn't give a damn at this point.


	3. Chapter 3 – Yuusha's assemble!

**Chapter 3 –** **Avengers** **Yuusha's assemble!**

The map that Chikage had chosen for them to play on was KF_Offices, a simplistic map based around a multi-storey office, players would start in a small carpark and could enter the building if they wished, choosing to defend on a variety of floors. As one of the original and simpler maps, Chikage had chosen this map as a nice introduction to the games for her companions, considering the trouble they'd put her through… Maybe she should have picked something a little bigger where she could take Yuuna away and ignore the rest of them.

The game itself made use of a class system, with each class having its own speciality weapons, Chikage had made sure to delegate these out with her own skill and judgement to avoid any issues. Under her guidance she had ensured that everyone had a role to fit their skills, or rather lack of, in this situation.

And what a situation it was! Looking around at her fellow heroes, she didn't have much hope for surviving the full ten waves and defeating the Patriarch, a boss enemy, at the end. C-Shadow alone could do it easily, it was just normal difficulty, after all, and all she had to do was make sure Yuuna had fun and would maybe play with her again…

But right now, trouble was brewing, Wakaba, unsurprisingly, had no clue what she was doing, neither with the game itself nor with the computer she was handling. Having been thrust in front in front of a computer and fed a bunch of instructions by Chikage, she was still confused on how to operate the machine and how it worked, let alone able to concentrate on the game. Chikage had told her she was the 'berserker', Chikage had also told her all she'd need to do was click when a monster appeared in front of her, in the meantime, she'd need to figure out how to stop her character from looking at the sky. It had been fine when she started. Maybe she needed to press the glowing button?

"Nogi Wakaba suffered an aneurysm, Nogi Wakaba left the game" was the message that appeared in the bottom left of Anzu's screen, she could only assume Wakaba had pressed the power button in a panic. Anzu didn't particularly have much experience with computers either, she preferred the touch of a physical book, but sometimes they weren't available. Chikage had given Anzu the class 'sharpshooter', which seemed self-explanatory enough. Anzu was unsure about games like these, they seemed violent and bloody for no reason, there was no romance to them. She knew she'd have to keep an eye on Tamacchi too…

Who was currently running around the starting area in circles, "Hey! If you get your knife out you run faster! I bet Chikage didn't know this! I truly am Tamazing!" Tama didn't really tell people about it, but Chikage wasn't the only one who played video games, and this was Tama's opportunity to make up for the humiliating defeat inflicted by Chikage and Wakaba during their holiday retreat. With Wakaba already out of the fight, well, "Heh heh heh, Tama has already won!". Tama had never actually played this game before, but she figured she'd adapt quick enough. Chikage had given her the 'Firebug' class, which would eventually mean a flamethrower. Chikage had given her this role with an off-handed comment about Tama finally being able to hit something via 'spray and pray', whatever that meant, Tama was a brilliant shot! Therefore, a flamethrower should just result in more kills than Chikage!

Hinata was lost, she'd initially chosen the medic, figuring she'd be able to follow Wakaba around and get her out of trouble, watching her flustered face before she came in to the rescue. But with Wakaba leaving the game by accident… Hinata understand the issue, the Nogi household was not one that lived in the 21st century, and Wakaba was completely clueless to anything remotely modern. Hinata could still remember the issue with the transformation app, where she'd had to set it up to the point Wakaba only needed to click to transform. Prior to that Hinata had to unlock the phone herself, and guide Wakaba's hand to the app. Thinking back, those times hadn't been so bad, the helpless Wakaba was cute too. The return to a similar situation was a joy. Until Wakaba got back, however, Hinata would keep an eye on Chikage's temper, though there was one-person Chikage would never get angry with…

Yuuna was ready to go, she'd been looking forward to playing with everyone in the build up to the event, and now it was actually happening, it was nice to do something for Chikage for once, she spent so much time outside of the activities of others she deserved the spotlight for once. Chikage had given Yuuna the 'Support' class, she didn't quite get what that meant, but she was sure Chikage would explain it later. This session seemed like it was going to be so much fun, and a great chance to get closer to everyone, especially Chikage. To Yuuna, anything done with friends was fun!

With the team fully assembled, for better or worse, they were ready to take on the game, the last few seconds of calm ticked by and the first enemies finally appeared.


	4. Chapter 4 – The first wave, and how not

**Chapter 4 – The first wave, and how not to play Killing Floor**

Finally getting back into the game, Wakaba now understood the glowing button was not how you stopped yourself from looking at the sky. All she had had to do was move the mouse backwards, that had been embarrassing, why was this all so hard? Now something had come up on her screen, flashing obnoxiously at her "Next wave inbound", what was this about? Wakaba's thoughts were interrupted, however, by a beastly groaning sound coming from behind her. Turning, she saw a white humanoid creature slowly making its way towards her, its skin was stretched and pallid, and it was coming straight at her. Wakaba had just turned the computer off trying to look down, and now she had to use her weapon somehow? She just tapped every key she could think of. F, she shone her torch at the monster, 1, she got out her knife, G, she threw something, what was that?

An explosion suddenly rang out, not too far from Wakaba, the pale creature was no more, now just a mere puddle of blood on the floor, it had clearly been some form of grenade… Wakaba was still not quite sure how she could shoot, but at least she'd dealt with that first threat. There was another series of groans to her left, turning very slowly and deliberately, for moving the mouse to change where she was looking was still relatively new to Wakaba. Beyond the crowd of creatures there was also Hinata, who seemed to be standing still… Wakaba was unable to shake the unease that came from seeing a still Hinata.

Surveying the situation before her, Chikage could see that there were 80 zeds of the basic type, it was up to the six of them to survive this wave. Looking around the starting courtyard at her teammates, she observed their behaviours. Tama was still running around in circles with her knife out, Anzu was carefully playing the game in a strategic manner, lining up headshots and conserving her limited ammunition. Wakaba was stood still, carrying out a variety of actions, switching her weapons, activating and deactivating her torch. Chikage could only assume it was another control issue. Near Wakaba was Hinata, completely still, no doubt she'd temporarily stopped playing to get more pictures of Wakaba as she panicked and tried every key on the keyboard and Yuuna…Where was Yuuna? Chikage needed to keep her alive, she didn't want Yuuna to sit out the entire game dead.

"Waah, look at these monsters! Maybe I just do this…?" There was a single gunshot, and Chikage could see one of the simplest Zeds, a clot, fall over in front of Yuuna, who was still holding up her pistol for another shot. "I did it Gun-chan!" Yuuna flashed her a quick fist pump. Chikage couldn't help but give a small smile at her enthusiasm for even the smallest things. Yuuna seemed to be doing well, and if Yuuna was doing fine, then Chikage could relax just a little bit, she made sure to move closer to Yuuna anyway, just to ensure she'd stay safe.

With Yuuna's safety now assured, Chikage could turn her attention to where Wakaba was throwing grenades into clusters of the Zeds, checking the scoreboard, Chikage almost let out a noise of disbelief, there, with the top kills, was Wakaba! This would not do, the legendary C-Shadow would not be outdone by this upstart who had turned off her computer simply trying to look straight ahead. Fortunately there was a large crowd of the Zeds within sight, they were chasing Tama, who was _still_ running around in circles.

Pre-occupied with the knowledge that having your knife out makes you run faster, Tama had been running around the edge of the courtyard for the past 5 minutes, even when the wave started she kept running around, ignoring the massing enemies behind her. This was all part of yet another Tamazing plan, to horde the enemy behind her and then take them out whilst they stood in a line. 

There was a series of gunshots.

One, two, four, seven, twelve, fifteen shots. Fifteen shots rang out across the courtyard, in the hands of Chikage that was fifteen headshots, fifteen kills. Tama turned around just in time to see the entire crowd of Zeds following her fall dead. This was equivalent to 3.5 Tamashocks, a truly calamitous event in a regular Tamaday. She slowly opened the score board, next to her witty name "T-Light" was a big zero, zero kills. Tama's plan had failed. Maybe this was worth 3.8 Tamashocks afterall…

It had been a rather event filled first wave, and despite its' relative simplicity, the various girls had stopped showing their anxiety and got into the game, Tama had gone first, fully concentrated on her victory of the scoreboard. She was followed by Yuuna, who had a desire to enjoy everything she did, then Anzu, Wakaba overcoming her difficulties, Hinata; finally, even Chikage had somewhat abandoned her fears, and found herself enjoying it...


	5. Chapter 5 – Wave completed!

**Chapter 5 – Wave completed, get to the trader!**

With the wave completed, it was time for a short interwave break to purchase new weapons. Chikage was about to tell Yuuna about it when Tama raced past, Wakaba cautiously following her, and Hinata following Wakaba attentively for any reactions she could etch into her memory.

"Takashima-san, follow me." Chikage wasn't going to waste any time, she needed to get to the shop and make sure no one did anything stupid.

"Okay, where are we going?" Yuuna asked her

"We're going shopping" Chikage replied, the answer seemed to satisfy Yuuna, who resumed following her.

Making their way inside the office building, they climbed to the first floor, where a previously unopened door was temporarily open for the interval. Tama raced down the corridor and straight into the shop, knife still out.

"Tama will buy something first!"

"…"

"Tama has no money…"

"Tamacchi, you can have some of mine" Anzu, never the physically fittest, was completely out of breath from following Tama's pace. Carefully sharing her funds with Tama, she leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

Between gasping for air, she carefully divided the funds, ensuring she had enough to afford her cheapest class weapon and giving Tama the rest.

"Thank you Anzu! Now Tama can protect you like the good senpai she is."

"Maybe…" Anzu replied uneasily

"Maybe!?"

"Hmm, I'm unable to afford any of these weapons either" Hinata commented. "But the armour is cheaper?"

"Hey, Gun-chan, look what I got!" Yuuna looked to Chikage, trying to share some of the excitement with her.

Chikage smiled at her, slightly distracted by the rapid development that was Wakaba having fully bought her own new weapon.

"Alright, I managed to buy something on my own" Wakaba said proudly, puffing out her chest at her achievement.

Chikage herself had chosen to buy the Bullpup assault rifle, she knew exactly why she'd bought this weapon, it had the highest price/bullet ration in the entire game, to most people, they wouldn't go this far on normal difficulty, but this was C-shadow, and she had her reputation to protect.

Between them they'd spent their money on weapons to help them with the future waves, Anzu's lever action rifle, Hinata's body armour, Yuuna's shotgun, Wakaba's machete, Chikage's assault rifle and Tama's highly questionable flare revolver that she'd chosen to use Anzu's shared money on. The six girls were now fully armed for the next wave.


	6. Chapter 6 Tama, fastest gun in the west

**Chapter 6 – Wave 2, Tama, fastest gun in the west**

When the timer finally counted down, ending the interval wave, wave 2 had begun, feeling confident with their weapons, the girls were all prepared for it. Chikage turned right out of the shop door and headed down the hall, Yuuna following her like a curious puppy. Chikage stopped in the very corner of the hall, back the way they had come was the staircase to the second floor, and in front of them was an office behind two double doors, a staircase on the left side of this passage lead to the ground floor.

"Wow, so that's where we started then?" asked Wakaba, looking out of the large glass panes lining the side of the hall. Given Wakaba's proficiency with the controls and the knowledge that the glass was breakable, Chikage did not trust Wakaba near the edge.

"C-can they jump down on us?" Anzu asked nervously, seemingly keeping her eyes both above them and on Tama, who was also near the edge, curious.

"No..." Chikage replied "They can jump down into the courtyard though."

Anzu nodded and clutched her rifle tighter, as the sharpshooter, the possibility of a Zed getting too close was a risk. Especially if she started panicking.

"Something over there looks different to what we've seen before" Hinata noticed, pointing in the direction of the stairs, gathering at the top was a small group of grotesque creatures crawling over each other towards them, each one was black and covered in small hairs, multiple limbs protruding from their bodies, and mandibled mouths that snapped angrily.

"AHHH!" Anzu cried out in a panic

"S-SPIDERS!"

"Don't worry Anzu! Tama will protect you from these ones!" Tama boasted, squeezing the trigger on the flare revolver, it was a crude contraption and the sights were practically non-existent, her first round went straight over the creatures, whose low profiles made them difficult to hit. Tama groaned in annoyance and adjusted her aim toward the ground, each shot of the flare revolver released a large shining flare that obscured vision for the others, with the large trails on the flares, making it difficult for even Tama to readjust her shots. With another squeeze of the trigger a second flare shot out, this one finding its target as Tama heard a screeching sound and saw one of the creatures squirming on the floor, alight.

"Tama got one of them! Anzu! Watch me get the other ones!" She squeezed the trigger four more times, setting four more of the grotesque creatures alight, squeezing the trigger a fifth time simply produced a click, and with one creature remaining, she was in somewhat of a bind.

"Uh oh"

"Tamacchi-Senpai!" Anzu yelled out behind her

The grotesque creature bounded towards Tama and leaped at her, Tama gulped and waited for the impact.

When it eventually came the creature gave her a light scratch, Tama barely feeling the impact.

"Oh."

Yet again there was a single shot as the proficient Chikage took over and economically took down the last creature with a single shot to the head.

"Tamacchi-Senpai are you okay?" a worried Anzu asked her, running up.

"Don't worry about me Anzu, Tama is okay, he didn't hit very hard after all."

"What was that though?" inquired Wakaba

"Crawlers… They can come out of the ceiling.." replied Chikage, with Chikage's normal way of conversing, this sounded more ominous than the dark atmosphere of the game could ever make it.

"The ceiling, huh?" A nervous Wakaba looked up to the ceiling, where missing roof panels could be seen, definitely a potential spot for these 'crawlers' to spawn, she'd keep an eye on Anzu, they would all need to, considering how immobilized she was in the face of the creatures.

After all her plans of being as good as Chikage, Tama had been the first to take damage. She couldn't prove just how good she was like this. Another brilliant plan was needed, compared to the flare revolver, Chikage's fully automatic weapons were much better optimised for killing large numbers of weaker Zeds and climbing the scoreboard...

Tama needed something new, something bold. How about…? Of course! If Chikage couldn't see the Zeds, she can't kill them. Tama took off sprinting towards the stairs.

She stopped after several steps, of course, this was a team game, she'd die on her own, she ran back the short distance to Anzu.

"Anzu, come with me." she whispered

"Eh, Tamacchi-Senpai, what's this for?" Anzu asked her

"Don't worry about it, Tama has a plan."

"I don't think we should leave the others…"

"It'll be fine, it's only wave two, right?"

Tama again took off running towards the stairs leading upward, this time dragging the somewhat reluctant Anzu along with her. Bounding up both flights of stairs they found themselves on the 2nd floor, Even more dismal than the last, flickering lights barely illuminated the corridor, and unlike the floor below, a corridor lined with open doors practically invited players to be ambushed by wandering zeds. Compared to the defensible looking corner on the floor below, this floor would be a nightmare, maybe Chikage had been right all…

But if Chikage was right, then Tama succeeding in these new conditions would surely mean that she was better than Chikage, having beat the odds and survived.

"Okay, let's stop here!" Tama came to a stop in the middle of the corridor, surrounded by 4 different rooms with open doors, all possible spots for Zeds to appear, and all to propel Tama up the scoreboard.

"Tamacchi-senpai.. I've got a bad feeling about this…" Anzu, standing behind Tama, clutched her rifle nervously.

"Don't worry, don't worry, it will be fine! Tama's here too, look, here they come, Tama's plan is working."

Some of the pallid clots rounded the corner to Tama's right side. Aha! Some easy kills to begin the scoreboard climb.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Each clot was struck with a perfect headshot, as they tumbled to the floor, Tama turned her head around to Anzu, a comically annoyed look on her face.

"Anzu…" 

"Yes, Tamacchi-senpai?"

"Don't steal Tama's kills!"

"I don't want you to get hurt."

"Hmmm." Tama couldn't stay annoyed at her junior's concern, so she'd let it slide this time.

"Okay Anzu, Tama will be careful for you, but don't go taking Tama's kills. Here comes another one of them, he's a bit bigger than the others, but leave it ta me!"

The new zed was larger than the previously seen specimens, with a mask covering its face and a large metal pack on its back, its arm held a large metal weapon of some kind, which it now pointed towards Tama, who now felt somewhat uneasy that the zed had just stopped abruptly. It was no problem however, the trusty flare revolver would take care of this. Tama fired a shot straight at the zed, hitting it directly, Anzu gave a small triumphant sound from behind her.

The zed showed some slight impact when the flare hit it, but otherwise continued to stand there as if nothing had happened, the flames from the flare revolvers projectile had seemingly rolled over the new Zed without any effect. Tama's weapon had proven ineffective, and worse, more Zeds were pouring out behind the hulking cannon Zed.

Anzu had been watching Tama's antics from behind her, and was no less shocked than her companion when the flare revolver in which Tama had placed so much confidence was proven ineffective.

Worse still, the other Zeds had arrived, led by some of the red sprinters. The description of the game when Chikage had explained it rankled with Anzu at first, she liked to sit in a calm area, or try to anyway, when Tamacchi was there it could sometimes be anything but. She'd sit in a somewhat quiet space anyway, and read about romance, heart-warming romance, the heart tearing situations romantic couples found themselves in. Ah, there was nothing quite like a good book! The high-paced action Chikage had described just sounded like the battles the Heroes often fought, why would she want to play a game in her spare time where the gameplay was doing what they risked their lives to do?

However, once in the game she looked at it more rationally, she needed to keep Tama alive, and she found herself analysing the situation before her, she might not have enjoyed playing the game but she knew she had to keep Tamacchi alive in this moment.

First, an analysis of the opponent. "If you know the enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." So Said Sun Tzu, anyway. Right now five of the faster running Zeds were closing on Tamacchi, if Anzu was transformed then she'd be able to get them all no problem, the sheer power of it would rip them off their feet. Now Anzu found herself constrained by the world of damage figures, 4 zeds she had to headshot, a strike to the body would only briefly faze them, from having never touched these sorts of games to the sudden need to land four headshots to save Tama. Here went nothing...

 _Hit_

A zed tumbled to the floor

 _Hit_

A second zed took a few more steps forward and fell.

Going for her third shot she was suddenly grabbed and turned in the opposite direction, there was one of the clots grabbing her as they intended to do to Tama, and behind it another group of zeds, Anzu's eyes grew wide, looked like this was the end for them both.

When the wave had begun, Yuuna had noticed Tama and Anzu run off upstairs, she'd told Gun-chan about it, who had promptly called Tama an idiot, hopefully this wouldn't lead to any conflict, they were supposed to be having a fun time playing the game with each other after all. Yuuna didn't know why Tama had run off, to her, the premise seemed to be to stick with your friends to accomplish much more than you could alone, it was the perfect gameplay for getting the six of them to bond. A good choice from Gun-chan, who knew her stuff when it came to these things. Good job Gun-chan!

And now here came some more of the enemies, a line of them coming through the double doors ahead, "I'll get these ones!" she shouted, maybe a little unnecessarily considering the distance between Yuuna and her teammates. She took aim with the pump-action shotgun she'd bought in the shop and fired, felling the front two zeds in the line, pumping the shotgun, she fired again into the line, this time taking three zeds with one shot. The class that Chikage had decided to give her was a lot of fun, there had only been a small crowd, but she'd dealt with them easily, noticing her position down the hall from Chikage and the others, she decided to return to the rest of her team.

"Those ones are all taken care of!" She reported back. Chikage gave one of those small smiles she showed around Yuuna when she was showing her genuine happiness. It was a small gesture, and Yuuna hoped she might help make Chikage smile a bit brighter in the future.

So far, the wave had been quiet, the only Zeds they'd seen were the few that Yuuna had blown away.

"I wonder where they are?" asked Hinata, "perhaps they are with Tamako and Anzu…?" she trailed off her question worriedly.

"we should go help them!" Wakaba made a bold declaration "Come on, follow me!"

"..."

"which way did they go?"

"up, Wakaba-chan." Hinata said, beaming, most likely because she never had much of a chance to see Wakaba the Leader due to her role as a Miko.

"...we'll stay here, it's more defendable for us." Chikage interrupted, deflating Wakaba's charge.

"We can't leave them alone up there can we…?" Wakaba asked, her mind probably dwelling on Tama's antics thus far into the game.

"Well, we can't leave them alone if they might be in trouble, right?" Yuuna suggested, it would be wrong of them to stand around whilst Tama and Anzu fought the wave

"Come on, let's go rescue them, Gun-chan." she beamed at Chikage.

"ok, if Takashima-san wants to..." she replied

There was a somewhat sullen Wakaba nearby, still holding the machete she had bought and pouting somewhat.

"Lead the way, Wakaba-san." Yuuna said.

"fufufu." Hinata was clearly enjoying this.

By this point Tama had begun to realize, the flare revolver was a somewhat slow weapon, there was no way she could beat Chikage with it, and against the groups of weaker Zeds it was far from optimal, these weaknesses didn't matter too much, since some Tama-recon had seen the dual-wielded version of the flare revolvers and knew she could still double her output. Provided they survived this ordeal, and right now things were looking bad,

"uh, Anzu?"

"yes, Tamachii?"

"Tama thinks this was a bad idea."

A sound of murmured agreement. The Zeds were all around them at this point,then there was the question of the larger one Tama's weapon seemed to be completed ineffective against…

Yep

Not Tama's brightest idea ever, and they were few and far between. She wondered where the team she'd left behind was.

Oh there they were...

Wait, what?

There indeed was Wakaba, hacking away at each zed with the largely ineffectual machete, thankfully she'd brought some much more capable back up with her as they came up the stairs in their heroic last-minute rescue. Yuuna gave them a little wave whilst Chikage sullenly got to gunning down the Zeds.

Tama didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed. They'd arrived to steal her glory, yet she couldn't deny they'd probably just saved her life. Anzu breathed a sigh of relief, adding to Tama's annoyance. Yuuna's weapon had no trouble dealing with the larger enemy, ripping straight through the enemy's health and sending him flying across the corridor. Tama was amazed, she needed to get her hands on something like that. Whilst admiring the power of Yuuna's weapon, she completely missed the wave being cleared up, largely by Chikage as Wakaba ineffectually hit things, Hinata watched Wakaba, and Anzu breathed easy in relief.

Wave completed, get to the trader!


	7. Chapter 7 - Hinata's healing services

Chapter 7 - Wave 3, Hinata's healing services

Coming out of the shop with her shiny axe that she'd bought with Chikage's lended money. Wakaba felt pretty good, she'd gone into this game with absolutely no idea how to use a computer, let alone how to play the game. But the Nogi's have always been talented and fast learners, and Wakaba was certainly no exception, true, she'd been hampered somewhat by the ineffective machete, but with this new axe perhaps she could finally have some impact. Everyone seemed to be doing well so far, even Wakaba.

The advent of the third wave brought a marked change to the atmosphere of the 6 Heroes, a subdued, yet annoyed Tama was now staying with the team. They'd relocated once again to the first floor, ready to take on whatever challenges would be thrown at them, and once again the shopping interval had brought new weapons to the table.

Hinata was relieved, finally, she'd joined the rest of her friends in getting her own class weapon for the medic, the medic class had an arsenal of submachine-guns, modified to also fire healing darts to help the medic heal from a distance, Hinata was grateful for the opportunity to follow around the team, particularly Wakaba, and help keep them alive, and yet, at the same time, the realisation that she was once again playing a supporting role to the Heroes… It was somewhat saddening to be back to the role she played in their everyday lives.

Like everyone else, the experience was new to her, and fighting the Zed's had been completely different from anything she'd done before, though seeing Wakaba grow and develop in time was an absolute joy to watch. Ahh, she was so proud of how far she'd come in just this small span of time. Hinata herself? Well. Seeing the grotesque creatures was somewhat strange, it was like fighting the Vertex in their spare time as well...

"Hinata?" A worried Wakaba was looking at her in concern

"Ah, it's nothing, Wakaba-san. Let's focus on what's ahead of us." She replied

"Okay." Wakaba replied, leaving it alone, and yet still seemingly concerned.

The past few waves for Hinata had been less involving than they had been for the others, without the money to buy the expensive medic weapons, she'd been left to assist the others as best she could, the starting pistol making the small contribution it could to help clear the waves. Of course, this left her without much money to buy a weapon of her own. Thankfully, the assistance of Takashima had meant she'd been able to buy a Medic-class weapon.

The gameplay didn't seem particulary varied, it was more a game of interaction of others to overcome the challenges thrown at them, Hinata somewhat rued the fact she was playing and unable to watch Wakaba.

"Be careful… There might be a new enemy." Chikage curtly informed them as the wave began to set itself up.

"No running away this time, okay Tamacchi-senpai?" Anzu looked at Tama

"Yeah…" Tama was still somewhat dejected that she'd been saved, what was worse, it seemed that Chikage had the most kills, followed by Takashima, whose shotgun antics had propelled her ahead of Wakaba's early grenade throwing.

"Hey, Chikage, what's this?" asked Wakaba, holding up a strange yellow tool

"Ah, it's for welding the doors" Chikage off-handedly explained

"Oh, so we can make chokepoints!" an excited Anzu seemed to already be weighing up the tactical applications. "If we weld the door up ahead, then we only have to worry about the stairs to our left and down the hall"

"Okay! Tama's on it!"

"Wait, we'll have Hinata do it" advised Chikage

"We can't send Hinata in, she's our medic!" a panicked Wakaba objected. How cute of Wakaba-chan to be so worried.

"She's the only one wearing armour, it'll be safer for her." Chikage explained

"fufufu what will I do with this spoiled Wakaba-chan?" Hinata teased

"I'll be back straight away."

Hinata slowly walked towards the door, looking out for any early spawning Zeds that might try to jump her.

Making it to the door, she began to use the welder to secure it together, the others watching attentively as she did so, and Wakaba straining all her senses to keep Hinata out of danger. She jumped a little when she heard gunshots coming from the team, focusing her attention on them, she noticed Chikage had quickly dealt with some invisible zeds that were closing on a somewhat oblivious Yuuna.

"So, there's invisible ones too, is this the new enemy Chikage?" inquired Wakaba, always eager to know more about the game as her phobia of computers had seemingly vanished, the talent of Nogi's was no joke.

"No, they were there last wave"

"Wow, invisible, huh? Tama didn't see them last time!"

The Heroes gave some small amused smiles to this, Anzu's eyes glazed over and she looked into the distance, a small smile of what was perhaps hopelessness on her face.

"uwah! Why are you all smiling like that?" Yuuna asked, seemingly not processing, or perhaps choosing not, to process Tama's statement

"yeah, I don't get it either, Anzuuu... Are you making fun of Tama!?"

"huh? Oh, no, don't worry about it Tamacchi"

"no senpai!? We're going to have a talk about this when we get back!"

"ah ah, look, monsters!" Yuuna interjected, defusing that Tama tantrum before it went any further.

In fact, the wave itself went rather smoothly, the Heroes settling into their roles and the game comfortably now, there had been one incident, however. When the new Zed Chikage had warned of had indeed shown up.

Hinata's welding had kept the door held for the majority of the wave, but the rattling sounds of things trying to get in had been going on for a while now, and it was getting louder, whatever was behind it, there was a lot of them. With the zeds outside seemingly thinning out, it seemed time to deal with the enemies behind the door.

"If there's a big one, avoid hitting him before we're ready" Chikage warned

"Tama's already dealt with one of the big ones!"

"This is bigger" Chikage again warned them.

Wakaba had a plan, she was somewhat familiar with the game now, and she was vaguely aware of Tama's goal to be at the top of the score board.

And Wakaba? Wakaba could be very competitive.

When the door flew open and the horde that had been behind it became apparent, she threw the few grenades she'd been able to afford into the crowd, the majority of the zeds were decimated, though when the smoke cleared, there was one tall specimen related, dressed in the attire of a surgeon, and with a large chainsaw transplanted onto its arm, it had been slowly shuffling towards them at the speed of the basic clot.

"Tama's already got this last one!"

True to her word, Tama had ditched her Flare revolver for a trenchgun, mirroring Yuuna's own shotgun weaponry, in keeping with the feel of the Firebug perk Tama had been given, it fired incendiary shells, which she was now attempting to devastate this new enemy with, she was failing, however, for it was taking the rounds and the grenades with relative ease.

The damage had triggered it somewhat however, and it was now sprinting towards them. In a panic everyone focused their fire on the creature, which fell quickly under this combined onslaught, it had been a harrowing experience however.

"we need to be more effective." Chikage lectured, in her own, offhand way.

"I'll tell you what we need to do"

"Anzu, it's going to be your job to take them out, aim for the head and focus on nothing else"

"Tama, avoid setting them on fire, that will just make them angry without much gain on our part"

"Wakaba-san, please stand in front of the enemy and stunlock them, you can do it like so"

"Ueseto-san, if Wakaba is low on health or occupied it will be your job to stand in front of the enemy and occupy their attention, make use of your special grenades and throw them at your feet"

"are Tama's grenades special?" Tama cut-in.

"not yet, don't throw those at your feet" Chikage curtly replied

"Ueseto-san, your special grenades heal us in the area they explode"

"all this talk of 'Hinata's special grenades' is making Tama's blood boil" Tama looked at Hinata out of the corner of her eyes.

Chikage looked at Tama dismissively

"Gun-chan, what should I do?"

"stay safe."

Who was this new individual who had replaced the quiet Chikage? In a moment to display her knowledge she'd completely changed in attitude and confidence. Wakaba knew she'd have to be careful, this was Chikage's realm and she was getting serious now.

Another wave had been cleared, and with it, a deep sense of competition had arisen, actual competition, not the likes of which Tama had been putting up, with seven more waves remaining, it had yet to be seen which of the two, Wakaba and Chikage, would come out on top.


	8. Chapter 8 – The competition, wave 5

Chapter 8 – The competition, wave 5

Wave 5 started, and the race was on. Wakaba and Chikage instantly took off in opposite directions, eager to overcome each other in competition, Chikage took Yuuna with her, and likewise Wakaba took Hinata to act as their respective judges, and they left to fend for themselves in respective areas of the map, neither of them paid attention to the earlier lessons that had been shown when Tama had run off. Even Chikage was engrossed in the competition, switching into complete confidence in her own abilities.

As such, in a complete twist of fate, Tama was left watching the others leave her and Anzu and wondering just how they were going to survive the following wave with them all split into 3 parties.

"Anzu…"

"Tamachii-senpai… Are you worried?"

"Yeah, sort of…"

"I'm sure we'll get through this okay, we just need to be..."

"You're right! Tama will beat them both! Stay with me Anzu!"

"That's not quite what I was hoping for…"

"Gun-chan, where are we going?"

"Watch me, Takashima-san, I'll win this game!" Chikage's foolhardiness was now at an all-time high, fuelled partially by the thought of competing against Wakaba and otherwise by the fact she'd dragged Yuuna with her.

"Woah, so cool!" Yuuna was, as ever, plenty enthusiastic for Chikage's actions.

"Okay, let's stop here."

Chikage had chosen to go downstairs to the ground floor, hoping that Wakaba had gone up to the top floor and not followed her, there was no room to share in this competition. Chikage made great efforts to ensure Yuuna would see her gesture of tracing a line in the floor with her foot.

"They won't get past here" she turned back to Yuuna, ensuring maximum drama in her actions as she ensured Yuuna was watching every step she took. Here in this corridor it was just the two of them now, so Yuuna's eyes were completely on Chikage. It couldn't have worked out better.

"Fufufu, I get to see the competitive Wakaba-chan!" Hinata gushed

"Competitive? Ah, not really…"

"But we have to beat Chikage-san right?"

Wakaba murmured out an affirmative.

They had made their way to the very top of the building, looking through the barbed wire fence surrounding the roof, Wakaba could see the car park where they had spawned. There were three access points for the roof. It wasn't the most defensive position, but it would come in useful now that they were competing against Chikage.

The thought that Tama might be a worthy contender never crossed her mind.

"Here we go, Anzu!"

"Right!"

Any logical worry or experience from her earlier actions had now dissipated from Tama's mind, and her thoughts now turned to the idea of her and Anzu climbing to the top of the scoreboard and beating both Wakaba and Chikage to the top of the scoreboard. She could see it already.

"Tamako-san, I cannot beat you, you are truly the best gamer among us" Chikage bowed her head in complete respect to Tama.

"Tamachi-senpai, you're the best" Anzu was full of admiration for Tama's incredible skills.

"Hahaha! No one expected Tama ta be the winner!" Tama crossed her arms and laughed in an exaggerated fashion, victory was sweet.

"Now we will go and eat udon!" The generous Tama would show kindness even to those who had been unable to compete against her.

"Tamachii-senpai!" Hearing Anzu's praise really was one of the highlights of the scenario..

"Tamachii-senpai!" Again, more urgent this time

"Tamachii-senpai!"

"Huh?"

Oh yeah, Tama hadn't won yet, as guaranteed an outcome as it was, she'd been brought out of the fantasy by a rather urgent Anzu, most likely concerned that Tama had been completely swinging between foolish confidence and a possible hint she had learned from her past mistakes.

"Anzu… We've got this!"

More words of reassurance from Tama, Anzu sighed, she felt completely unable to put her faith in Tama's words following the debacle with Tama's detour, this time they couldn't rely on the team to help them out, either. At least Tama was staying put, for the time being at least. They had inherited the defensive position they'd been in during the earlier waves when Wakaba and Chikage had left to compete against each other, and if Chikage had chosen this spot, then it couldn't be too bad, could it?

Anzu couldn't help but wonder how they managed to function as a team at all to defend Shikoku when they couldn't go halfway through one of these matches without splintering into 3 factions trying to outcompete each other. There was nothing for it now... Maybe she could direct Tama's energies and do something strategic, though probably not considering how Tama was entirely wrapped up in the idea of coming out on top via her own power. Looks like this victory is going to go to Chikage.

On the floor below Chikage was still making sure that not a single zed crossed the line she had marked out with such flair earlier. At this point, Yuuna was left to focus entirely on Chikage's display of skill. The whole thing turned out as somewhat of a show with Chikage skillfully taking out targets and Yuuna clapping occasionally and making sounds of wonder.

"Wow, Gun-chan! You're great at this!"

There was only one goal in mind for Chikage, and that was - much like Tama - victory at all cost, she'd easily take the game and win against the others. To Chikage, the victory celebration would go pretty well, something like…

"Wow, Gun-chan! That was awesome, I'm your biggest fan!" Yuuna's praise was somewhat aligned with her everyday behaviour.

"Takashima-san... have I proven myself to you?" she asked hesitantly

"Gun-chan, I love you!" Yuuna beamed at Chikage, who was simply blown away by the confession.

"Let's go have udon together!" Yuuna picked Chikage up in her arms and gracefully started princess carrying her to the udon shop they often frequented, humming a tune.

Indeed, even in Chikage's dreams of high speed romance, Yuuna's mannerisms were somewhat platonic, but that didn't matter, Chikage was simply going to let herself get swept up in the mood.

Yuuna had been content to watch Chikage taking care of the Zeds as they came forward. Leaving Chikage up to showing off her skills, all the while being completely amazed at just how skilled Chikage was at this.

She noticed, however, that part way through Chikage slowed down somewhat to glaze over, Yuuna couldn't help but wonder just what Chikage was thinking about that would cause her to slack somewhat. No worries! If Chikage was slowing down, then Yuuna would do her best to help her out.

"Wakaba, you've gotten so good at this!" Hinata clapped in absolute delight.

Unlike the others, Wakaba didn't need to dream for Hinata to bestow praise upon her. And unlike the others, Wakaba didn't quite process the praise Hinata gave her.

"Come on… I'm not that good" Wakaba tried to shake Hinata off in her own way.

"FuFuFu, how wonderful"

"Hinata, you are our healer, right?"

"That is correct. And I will keep you alive. If you get hurt just come to me and say "Hinata, I need your help" in that way you always do"

"I don't say it quite like that…" Wakaba pouted slightly at Hinata's comment

"Fufufu so wonderful…"

To Wakaba, the three alternating entrances to the roof were a bad sign, especially with Hinata's role as a healer perhaps limiting her combat ability.

"Hinata, stay near me, I'll protect you." She swore

"I'm looking forward to it."

Back on the first floor, Tama felt like she could take on the entire world, she'd settled into an unsteady rhythm with Anzu. Anzu skillfully taking out targets from afar, and Tama blowing away Zeds blindly. Not that she required precision with her trench gun. This was certainly going to be Tama's moment of triumph, in fact, Tama's brain had filtered everything down to one thing. If Tama and Anzu stayed alive whilst the others were taken out, they'd have free reign to climb the score board without even having to actually compete.

"Tamachii-senpai, we're doing it!" Anzu cried out jubilently, caught up in the mood of success that had risen as a result of their success holding off the Zeds. Although she had been worried, Anzu had not seen one of the chainsaw monsters that had so terrorised them last wave.

"Come on Anzu! Just a little more to go!" Tama shouted back at her, they were only a short distance apart, but the euphoria had them yelling over the gunshots and the guttural noises of the Zeds.

Anzu was more relieved than anything that they'd managed to survive this entire wave, even if it was just her and Tama together. Just a few more to go, Chikage's defensive position had served them well, as had the combination of Tama's closed range weapon and Anzu's long ranged class. Just a few more...

Something had appeared at the door, bigger than any Zed until now, even bigger than the chainsaw Zed.

Anzu's immediate thoughts were to make sure Tama was careful around whatever this was that had come through the door.

"Tamachii-senpai!" Anzu yeld out cautiously, instantly worried by what this new Zed would mean for them.

"Tama's got this one!" Tama yelled again, as confident as ever

"Tamachii-senpai! Wait!" Anzu yelled out, she didn't want a repeat of the fire shooting Zed, but Tama never quite seemed to learn from her mistakes, and how she survived everyday was a mystery, she was the type to place a fork into the toaster and laugh it off.

It was too late, full of confidence, Tama had already ran into close range and hit the new Zed once with her trenchgun. There was a light on the creature's chest, which turned now from a warning yellow to a highly dangerous red as it roared and pounded the ground. Even Tama began to get the message and see that once again, she had messed up.

"A-Anzu...?"

"RUN!"

They both made a break for it, sprinting in opposite directions, as loathe as she was to leave Tama alone, Anzu knew that she wouldn't get past the large creatures and Tama would be safe if she ran down the stairs to Chikage and Yuuna, meanwhile, Anzu would run up to the second floor to meet Wakaba and Hinata, and then they'd all meet again at the end.

Anzu took off running, constantly snatching glimpses behind her to see Tama make a mad dash down the stairs, the zeds following her, although it pained Anzu to leave Tama, she hoped that Chikage would be able to save her.

Likewise, Tama hoped that Wakaba would look after Anzu, since it certainly didn't look like Tama was getting out of this one, she'd taken the side door down to the first floor, hoping to meet Chikage who would dispose of the big monster she'd accidently enraged, all thoughts of brilliant plans had vacated her mind, leaving a desire to not go down to this thing, whether Chikage had to deal with it or not.

Bounding down the stairs two at a time, trying to escape the enraged zed, whose slow plodding pace had turned into a complete sprint, bearing down on her. Turning the corner of the stair case, Tama stopped in her tracks, there were zeds coming up towards her… The plan formulated so many waves ago was finally coming to fruition, if Chikage couldn't see the Zeds, she couldn't kill them.

Tama tried to blast her way through them, but it was futile, the trenchgun was powerful, but lacking in any penetrative qualities for the large group before her.

Tama turned around in the last second to look at the large Zed as it bore down on her, looks like this was it this time.

Tama's body hit the wall with a huge thud as she was completely thrown aside, dead.

Anzu ran towards each staircase, making her way up the building, not daring to look back, she only hoped that Tama had successfully managed to get away. Reaching the last of the stairs on the roof, she was already exhausted. Breathing hard, she had no time to rest, she had reached Wakaba and Hinata just as the wave was closing, seeing the lack of carnage around, she deducted most of the enemies must have come for her and Tama. Although although she had successfully made her way through to Wakaba and Hinata, despite this, she had to find Tama and make sure she'd survived. Wakaba breathed a sigh of relief to see Anzu, they had gained another member back and were one step closer to being a full team again. And on the lower floor Chikage and Yuuna came across the larger zed, wounded yet undeterred, coming towards them. Yuuna, rather uncharacteristically, wanted to try and Yuusha punch it, but Chikage stopped that before it began. It simply wouldn't work in the game. Chikage had taken it down herself from a safe distance.

Once the wave had been completed, Anzu took off running on her own, she had to find Tama. She ignored the direction pointing to the shop and headed towards the stairs where she'd last seen Tama. What she saw there stopped her dead in her tracks, Tama was lying against the wall where she'd been roughly thrown aside. Completely lifeless.

Anzu ran up to her, picking her up and gently cradling her still body, tears welling up in her eyes. She held Tama tightly for a little, regret welling up at how she'd fled from the threat and left Tama to die alone, they were supposed to be sisters, damnit, Anzu should have been there until the end.

 _Cough_

Tama's body stirred slightly, Anzu looked at the face of her dear friend, who still held a little light in her eyes.

"A-Anzu..." she whispered, forcing each word out with great effort.

"Yes, Tamacchi?" Anzu asked gently

"D-did I win?" Tama asked, a faint smile on her face

"Yeah" Anzu replied instantly "You were the best Tamachii-senpai. You had the most kills out of all of us" She replied emotionally, smiling through it all.

"Anzu…" Tama whispered quieter now

"I can see the scoreboard…"

"Oh..." Anzu winced, knowing that Tama was obviously not going to be at the top.

With that last sentence, Tama had passed on, leaving Anzu to sit and cradle her body. Chikage and Yuuna passed by as Anzu was still there, holding Tama. Yuuna trying to reassure her that it was okay and Tama would soon be back.

"Don't worry, An-chan! Tama will respawn soon, right, Gun-chan?"

Chikage smiled, seeing Yuuna pick up game mechanics was always a joy to witness, it was a somewhat of a bitter smile, however, for Chikage was about to crush the little hope that had appeared in Anzu's eyes.

"I turned respawns off..." Chikage stated flatly.

"What?" Anzu asked her, incredulous.

"To make it harder." Chikage explained, seeing nothing wrong with her actions.

"But how will Tamacchi-senpai play?"

"She won't, she shouldn't have died."

"Chikage, can't you bring her back, please?" Wakaba asked tentatively

"No" Chikage replied instantly.

Anzu then looked at Yuuna with desperation. Yuuna, picking up the visual cue, suggested to Chikage that she should let Tama respawn, it was almost an entirely different request from Yuuna's mouth, Chikage changing her icy response into something more amiable.

"I…"

"I can't"

"Not without restarting" Chikage replied, forcing the words out.

"Oh…" Wakaba gave a little sound of acknowledgement

Anzu walked over to Wakaba and Hinata, clearly silently stewing her anger, but not of the disposition to force anything out of it. Maybe she was too embarrassed from acting like that in a video game, Chikage had to restrain herself from shaking her head in disbelief.

"We'll have to continue without her, it's harder this way" Chikage explained,

"ah, here comes the next wave" she added afterwards, dismissing any further conversation.


	9. Chapter 9 – One down, Wave 6

**Chapter 9 – One down, Wave 6**

With the onset of yet another wave, the girls assembled themselves to return to their defensive positions, Anzu, abandoning her worries of the team being split, and still disappointed Chikage had decided to forcibly lock Tama out in the name of difficulty, decided to follow Wakaba and Hinata as they went up the stairs back to their original position. Chikage waved dismissively, she only needed herself to hold back the wave anyway, well, and Takashima to watch and hopefully come back in future to play with her again. The others be damned.

"Takashima-san, follow me" she said, "we're moving again"

"Gun-chan? What about the others?"

"We'll be okay without them" Chikage answered

Yuuna looked between Wakaba, Hinata and Anzu stood at the top of the stairs, then at Chikage stood at the bottom, eventually she decided to follow Chikage so she wasn't on her own and lonely during the next wave, she would have much preferred to mediate and get everyone together, but with the enemies coming so soon and everyone so dead set on splitting up, she was too late. As soon as Yuuna reached the bottom of the stairs Chikage had gone down, Chikage quickly took off down the corridors. Leaving Yuuna to largely guess where she had gone. She tried her best to keep up, but she wasn't as familiar with the maps as Chikage was, and she eventually found herself lost among the maze of corridors, Chikage seemingly gone.

She looked around, her mood still cheerful, at odds with the grim setting of the map. No doubt she'd find Chikage again, she would just have to look around for the others.

"Okay" she whispered determinately to no one in particular.

"Time to find Chikage"

She set off walking in the direction she thought she would find Chikage, shotgun in hand, armed with a loose idea of where Chikage had gone, hopefully Chikage didn't worry too much when she found that Yuuna had disappeared behind her.

Yuuna's hopes of a calm Chikage were to be in vain, for upon reaching her destination, Chikage was instantly aware she was alone, and that Yuuna had gotten lost during the journey. She looked around hastily, panic beginning to set in, she'd left Yuuna on her own somewhere. If Yuuna got killed then it was she'd never want to play with Chikage again, and watching others play was no fun to Chikage. Though that Tama was stuck with that situation now, but she was far less important than Yuuna.

By now the enemy wave had begun to pour into the building, making it harder for Chikage as she hastily scrambled back the way she had come, looking for Yuuna. A horde of Zeds followed her every move, and she was left with no choice but to blast her way through the crowds of enemies, frantically searching for Yuuna, calling her name every now and again in panic.

Meanwhile, Yuuna, unfamiliar with any of the map, had set off in the direction she assumed Chikage had been down. She was confident that they'd meet back up eventually, she would have to take care not to get killed by any of the enemies along the way. And they seemed to be gathering now, forming a large wall in front of her, never one to back down from a confrontation with creatures wanting to brutally kill all human life, Yuuna was ready to fight her way through them, "I'm coming Gun-chan" she called playfully, like a game of hide and seek.

It seemed that whoever needed rescuing now was not aware of it. Yuuna burning with determination as she ran up and down stairs looking for Chikage.

"Gun-chan!"

"Gun-chan!"

Her manner was cheerful, completely devoid of desperation, conversely, Chikage was desperately combing through each room, fighting her way through the Zed crowds, searching wild eyed and panicking.

"Takashima-San!" She called out wildly

"Takashima-San!"

She couldn't let Yuuna die here on this wave. She could faintly hear Yuuna shouting back to her, also calling her name as they searched for each other. Chikage scrambling up the stairs and Yuuna running down corridors.

Anzu had decided to go with Wakaba and Hinata, she was still disappointed in how Chikage had decided to leave Tama behind in the name of "difficulty". She was interested to see how suitable the defensive position the other two had chosen was.

Wakaba led them up to the top floor where they had defended before, looking at the multiple entrances, Anzu knew that eventually it would be an unsuitable position, especially as they were now in the later stages of the game.

"Anzu, what do you think?" Wakaba looked to her for advice on their position.

"It's not optimal, there's too many entrances…" she replied quietly, thinking.

"We should move from here, since there's less of us now"

"I don't think that will be possible..." Hinata commented, pointing at the Zeds coming at them from the three different doorways that led to the rooftop.

"I've got these ones" Wakaba said, springing into action and throwing herself at the nearest crowd of Zeds. There was a faint sound of admiration, presumably from Hinata, that came from back the way she came.

The axe was a much more effective weapon than the earlier machete, and each swing cleaved through the Zeds with ease, though the sheer numbers arrayed against them had grown many times since earlier. Wakaba continued cutting through them, she'd simply needed to fight her way through everything before.

Stood on the roof next to Hinata, carefully picking out the larger targets for her sniping weapons, Anzu was dutifully carrying out her role surviving the wave when she heard Hinata's voice behind her, it was full of concern.

"Anzu-san, where is Wakaba-chan?"

"Wakaba-san is…" She trailed off, sighting the doorway where the Zeds were much more thinly spread, she had a good idea where Wakaba had gone…

"Hinata-san, I think I know where she is" she sighed, nodding at the quieter entrance.

Understanding instantly passed over Hinata's face, and she began to make her way towards the door, her face that of a mother about to scold their child, she was stopped in her tracks, however, for one of the hulking Zeds appeared at the door, obscuring their advance.

Anzu's heart skipped a beat, this was what had killed Tama before. She felt herself calculating just how she would bring this threat down and make it suffer for what it had done to Tama, for now she kept her nerve, she wouldn't be able to get revenge by blindly charging in. Right now, Hinata's armour seemed to be the right answer, she hated how she'd have to use Hinata as a human shield for this to work, but if she was right then Hinata shouldn't suffer any major damage.

"Hinata-san, please stand in front of me" Anzu told her calmly.

"I-I see." Hinata replied, shaken, but moving to stand in front of Anzu.

"I'll hit it hard enough that you won't take that much damage" She smiled at Hinata, hoping it was a reassuring smile, and not one that reflected her inner unease at the plan itself.

"Okay, I'm going to shoot it now." she added after a brief pause.

The first bullet was a clean headshot, having a tremendous impact on the body of the Zed, but seemingly very little effect on its overall advance. Anzu prepared for her next shot, she had to bring it down before it did severe injury to Hinata.

She lined up the next shot.

Wakaba didn't know what had happened, she'd been cutting her way through Zeds when she'd taken a second to look at her surroundings, realising that she was no longer on the roof, she then took a further minute to consider how she'd managed to cut her way down the stairs without even realising. She recognised the surroundings as the floor which Tama and Anzu had been surrounded on when the others came to save them. Though she couldn't quite figure out her orientation, she was stood dead centre of everything, and there seemed to be exits everywhere.

It wouldn't be too hard to find her way back, surely only one of these exits led to a staircase facing upwards. But before she could look, she was aware of a breathing coming from one of the exits behind her, someone, or something, running up the stairs, out of breath. Slowly advancing on the exit, Wakaba readied her axe to strike the oncoming threat. As the individual out of the doorway, Wakaba stopped her axe swing just short.

"Yuuna?"

"Ah, Wakaba-san" Yuuna's face lit up to see another one of her team members "have you seen Gun-chan anywhere?" she asked, out of breath.

"I'm afraid I haven't, what are you doing on your own?" Wakaba asked, concerned, she didn't know how Chikage had let Yuuna out of her sight.

"I got a little lost." Yuuna replied bashfully, Wakaba sighed, this girl was a completely different tone to their surroundings.

"Where are Hinata and Anzu?" she added

Wakaba coughed awkwardly "I got lost too…"

"They should still both be on the roof."

"Then we're both lost?"

"Yeah" in spite of their situation, Wakaba smiled a little at just how ridiculous it all was.

Wakaba was also acutely aware that whilst they'd been stood comparing their situations, there had been a lack of Zeds approaching them, in fact there had been none. Meaning that the majority were with the others.

"Yuuna, can I ask you a favour?"

"Sure!"

"Can you come with me to find Anzu and Hinata first? Chikage will be fine, she plays games all the time."

Without hesitation Yuuna agreed, Wakaba knew they could both trust Chikage to survive the wave alone.

"Okay, we're looking for a staircase heading upwards."

"Like that one?" Yuuna instantly asked, pointing directly down the corridor behind them.

Wakaba flushed with embarrassment, it was incredibly obvious in its placement. If they followed that then they should end up on the staircase.

Halfway up the stairs, the wave completed text appeared, Wakaba breathing a sigh of relief, maybe they'd survived this after all.

Reaching the top of the stairs, though, she realised everything wasn't quite as she'd left it, a great stack of dead zeds were piled atop each other, the general atmosphere was complete chaos, the roof was covered in blood and dead Zeds, it had been one desperate fight. Then her eyes fixed on Hinata propped against the wall, one of the massive hulking Zeds dead but a few inches away.

Wakaba ran to her side, Hinata was already dead, game or not, Wakaba still felt a deep-seated regret that she'd left them to their deaths. If only Wakaba hadn't got lost and separated herself from the rest of the group. She clenched her fist, despite her attempts to get angry with the zeds, she was more annoyed that Hinata would now be free to snap embarrassing pictures of Wakaba as she concentrated.

Yuuna ran to attend to Anzu, laying not to far from Hinata. Wakaba looked over as Anzu whispered some words to Yuuna and raised her arm in a very weak salute. Yuuna looked absolutely devastated, Wakaba wasn't quite sure if she still knew it was a game or not, she'd seen fine early when Tama had died, but the news about no respawns had shaken her up, whatever she inferred from that, it had left her incredibly emotional. When she shuffled over to Wakaba, Wakaba was eager to learn what Anzu's had left them with, maybe she'd figured out something to help them survive the next waves with their limited numbers.

Making sure to ask gently, since Yuuna still looked shaken, she raised the question.

"Yuuna, what did Anzu say?" she asked softly

"Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuhrer" she replied, tearing up a little. Wakaba was pretty sure that Yuuna's pronunciation was a complete butchering of whatever Anzu had originally said, but it wasn't helpful to them either way.

That wasn't helpful.

"Come on Yuuna, it's just us and Chikage now. Let's go." Wakaba said, gently guiding Yuuna back down the stairs, away from the devastation behind them. She was left hoping they'd be able to survive the next wave with their limited numbers.


	10. Chapter 10 – One last time, Wave 7

**Chapter 10 – One last time, Wave 7**

When they arrived at the shop, Chikage glanced straight through Wakaba, her attention instead focused on Yuuna who was stood next to her, sniffling and looking completely down.

"What did you do to Takashima-san!?" was the first response, a combination of a panic filled wave mixed with her first sight being a dejected Yuuna combined into a rage filled outburst

"Chikage wait! I didn't do anything!" Wakaba quickly interjected before Chikage decided to get getting physical.

"An-chan... Hinata-san… gone…" Yuuna whispered to herself

"We lost them, did we?" Chikage asked quietly

"Yeah." replied Wakaba

"Why are you alive then? Weren't you with them?"

"Well, you see…" Wakaba started, quite unsure how she was going to explain to Chikage just how she had gotten lost chopping her way down the stairs.

"Wakaba-san was lost." Yuuna spoke up "We went to go look Hinata and An-chan together, but they were…"

Wakaba winced, Yuuna had given Wakaba away entirely with her simple honesty.

"You were lost?" Chikage asked, somewhat mockingly

"More importantly, we're down to only three people now" Wakaba replied, avoiding the jab entirely and redirecting the conversation.

"We didn't need them anyway" Chikage replied, unfazed.

"So, you think we can still win with just the three of us?"

"Of course."

Wakaba relaxed somewhat, if Chikage was still confident in their chances, then there was surely nothing to be worried about. She decided against prodding Chikage any further, as she was still prickly over the imagined slight that Wakaba had somehow been the one responsible for Yuuna's upset.

With nothing to occupy her, Wakaba turned to thinking just how Chikage believed they'd all be getting through this, considering how Chikage had played earlier, Wakaba was probably not in that equation.

Daring to ask a question, she voiced her concerns about their current position, the shop had moved to the ground floor, in another long corridor made entirely of stone panels, a change from the earlier carpets and windows of the upper floors. There were two entrances, one leading out through the lobby into the carpark, the other leading to steps to the first floor, Wakaba was worried about the lack of escape routes, but Chikage shrugged her off, it seemed she was more than confident that she had the skills for it.

As Wakaba turned her back on Chikage, Chikage had one last thing to add

"You might want this"

A katana, this was more appealing than the brute force axe.

"Don't get lost slicing through things again" Chikage sighed, Wakaba tensed up, how did she know that…

"I'll watch this way, Takashima-san, Nogi, watch the other exit."

"G-got it" Wakaba replied, seeing the look of fierce determination on Chikage's face, Wakaba had largely lost her stomach for any form of competition between them, but Chikage still seemed to believe that there was a competition between them.

"Okay Takashima, let's do our best" Wakaba smiled at Yuuna, who immediately smiled back. Wakaba thought she heard a sound from their third member of a wall being smashed down from a sudden outburst of violence, but she chalked it down to her imagination.

She held her katana in a ready stance, this was the ancient art of iai, her pride and joy, which she had perfected through rigorous training and years of practice.

"Nogi-san, just slice with it" Chikage instantly berated her

"but this the ancient art of iai" she protested

"You'll get further by just slicing through them"

"I want to use my iai though."

"Nogi, hold it like this" Chikage berated her again

"but…"

"Just do it"

Wakaba didn't want to start an argument with Chikage, especially considering she knew the game much better than she did. She decided to hold the katana in a much simpler grip than the iai stance, though she still continued to complain under her breath at this affront to the ancient art she had practiced.

"This is better" Chikage assured her one last time before the wave came.

And then it was upon them, the latest wave, with only half of the people they had started with, the remaining team would need to give their all to survive the oncoming enemy wave. Fortunately, Chikage was with them again, and Wakaba caught glances of Chikage out of the corner of her eyes as she played.

Chikage was good, _very_ good.

Between skilfully prioritising her targets and economically using ammo it was obvious that she was a much higher calibre player than Wakaba was. The competition that Wakaba had thought was between them was now being laid bare as an illusion, Chikage was always going to be the winner. Wakaba felt a deep-seated sense of awe at what Chikage was doing.

As she stood her ground and constantly made great slicing motions through the oncoming zeds, Wakaba also realised that Chikage had a point, against the sheer numbers arrayed against them it was much more effective to blindly hack away against the crowd that was coming against them. Yuuna was doing well too, the narrow corridor intensifying the effect of her large shotgun blasts.

As had happened so many times before, everything seemed to be going comfortably well, despite their fewer numbers, they were still holding the line against the enemy wave. Trouble began to set in eventually, however, as the enemy numbers seemed to be neverending and Yuuna finally called out.

"Gun-chan! I can't shoot anymore!" She sounded confused at this turn of events.

"What should I do?"

Chikage was too deep in her concentration as she held her own against the enemy wave, even the voice of Yuuna didn't reach her, and she failed to give a reply.

"Okay Wakaba-san, I'm going to try something!" She shouted, full of courage

"Yuuna!" Wakaba felt very worried about what Yuuna was going to do.

She was right to feel afraid, for Yuuna immediately went up and punched the nearest Zed, the attack proved relatively ineffective within the confines of the game, and Yuuna was left looking at the dazed zed in confusion. Wakaba, recognising the danger Yuuna was now in, promptly rushed forward to protect her, leaving them both dangerously out of position.

As the Zeds continued coming down the hall, Wakaba was left to fend for both her and Yuuna, who was now left without a weapon and had to rely solely on Wakaba to protect her. Time was running out, with Yuuna now unarmed their effective strength had decreased substantially, and Wakaba knew that she couldn't keep it up for long before the whole thing came crashing down.

"Chikage!" she called

No reponse

"Chikage!"

Still no response

Damnit

"Gun-chan I need a hug!" Yuuna suddenly intervened

Wakaba was surprised at this savvy tactic coming from Yuuna, was this girl incredibly cunning all along? Nevertheless, Chikage's head swivelled around in immediate attention.

"Chikage! We can't stay here!" Wakaba called out one final time, Chikage's face soured at the interruption, but she backstepped to the others, they were now huddled together in a tight group.

"We need to break out and defend somewhere else" Wakaba started off calmly

"Yuuna doesn't even have a weapon right now."

"Takashima-san, take mine!" Chikage instantly tried to thrust her weapon into Yuuna's hands.

"Ah, Gun-chan!"

Wakaba hastily shoved it back.

"Chikage, focus on keeping Yuuna alive for now"

Whilst they'd been talking Wakaba had continued to slice away at the zeds in front of them, it was easy enough for her, all she had to do was swing, more impressively, despite the small slip up before, Chikage had continued to do her part, not missing a beat in her efficiency.

"Okay, Chikage, let's break out in the direction of me and Yuuna and head upstairs" Wakaba settled into her leadership role.

"I'm going to try advancing forward, Yuuna, j-just behind me, don't punch anything"

Wakaba started advancing slowly towards the door, slicing through everything that stood in her way, Chikage covered their rear, gunning down the Zeds behind them, it was a very slow crawl towards the stairs, it would be really bad if…

The slow moving, larger zeds had finally arrived, they came out from the stairs, Wakaba drew a sharp intake of breath, Takashima gasped, Chikage made a "tch" sound.

"Chikage, follow my lead! I'll block it whilst you take it down!"

Without even looking to see if she had followed her, Wakaba raced at the larger Zed and got its attention, good, it was coming for her now, all she had to do was block the blows at the correct time to get out of this.

"Chikage!" She called as the Zed prepared its counterstrike.

She dared to look away for a second to look at Chikage, Chikage was eerily stood still, idly watching Wakaba under pressure.

"GUN-CHAN!" Yuuna screamed as the Zeds caught up with Chikage and dragged her into their mass of bodies.

This was bad, they only had one weapon between them now, and they were complete exposed.

Damnit, Wakaba felt her strength slipping from her, she couldn't keep this block up for much longer.

Suddenly her strength gave out, she was completely wide open to attack, and then it came, she was struck against the wall with titanic force.

"Guess this is the end of the game…" she mused one last time.

The player death text appeared.


	11. Let's play again sometime! Epilogue

**Chapter 11 – Let's play again sometime! Epilogue**

Wakaba came back to a bizarre scene, Hinata was passed out on the floor, covered completely in polaroid images.

Chikage was stood over Tama, her eyes smouldering, Anzu was between them trying to ineffectually mediate.

"Tama wasn't too pleased she had to sit out the game!" Tama was arguing good naturedly, Chikage, however, seemed completely serious.

Ah, Tama must have been the reason why Chikage had stopped moving in that crucial last moment, no doubt she'd broken Chikage's concentration somehow.

"Because of you-"

"Because of you Takashima-san will never play with me again!" 

"huh?" Tama blinked, clearly, she had assumed Chikage had been angry for other reasons.

"Chikage-san…" Anzu gently ventured to ask

"I think it will be alright…"

"Yeah, you did well Chikage, it was fun." Wakaba added

Chikage looked over at them, but still looked broken.

She was suddenly in Yuuna's embrace however,

"Gun-chan! I owe you a hug!" She innocently said, beaming.

Wakaba shook her head, was Yuuna ever self-aware of the impact when she did these things?

Anzu came up to Wakaba, worry on her face.

"Nogi-san, what should we do about Hinata-san?"

Oh right, Hinata, Wakaba looked at her, still completely covered in photos. Wakaba tentatively picked one up.

She paled when she saw it.

It was a photo of Wakaba, deep in concentration, her tongue sticking out as she focused on the game. Wakaba instantly threw it away. It was no good for Hinata to be lying on the cold floor like that, even if her face did show she was in a state of exquisite bliss.

Wakaba scooped Hinata up in her arms.

"This was a lot of fun Chikage, let's do it again sometime." She said, carrying Hinata, she left the room.

"Next time, Tama will win!" Tama insisted defiantly.

"Let's work together for that, Tamacchi-senpai" Anzu agreed.

They left the room.

Chikage was left alone with Yuuna, she was still fighting the urge to throw Tama off the Seto Bridge, held in Yuuna's embrace however she began to calm down.

"I had a lot of fun today Gun-chan" Yuuna said softly.

"y-yeah" Chikage stammered back

"You'll have to show me how to get better at it next"

"Huh?"

"I ran out of ammo and I had to punch that monster!"

Chikage smiled at the memory

"You're not mad that I let you die?"

"We tried our hardest, but we didn't have enough people for it"

"Y-you want to play with me again?"

"Yeah! Let's beat the game next time!"

"Takashima-san, first off let's talk about bullet economy"

"Okay" Yuuna nodded cluelessly

Chikage smiled, and as she explained to Yuuna the price/bullet ratio and the most effective way to use your weapons she thought to herself that this hadn't been so bad, her teammates were, excepting Yuuna, largely useless, but the prospect of playing again made her smile, it was exciting even. This hadn't been a bad idea after all.

Chikage couldn't quite remember when she'd picked up video games, but in this moment, she was glad she had,


End file.
